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Glad u made it to Aiolos... one of 1st places I stumbled into... a feature that night was a Mushroom Casserole..crisp sides, melty cheesy center in a castiron skillet, amaazing taste, Also one of pllaces that sells barrelled wine (not "box wine") including rose.. unusual.. an very delish. this is 22 years ago, so u know it was good. I find that sometimes, when I am dining solo, I pay more attention to the food, & thus remember it. Aalso take notes more, in the moment.

Wow, Karen, what fantastic photos! Mystras looks remarkable! And what beautiful sunsets in Nafplion! Looks like a fabulous place to stay.

Karen, thank you for sharing about Mystras. It’s not what comes readily to mind for me when I think about Greece but definitely up my alley. Seems like I should get to Greece sooner.

Progol and tripplanner001, Mystras is definitely one of my favorite places! And if we ever return to the Pelopponese, I will definitely re-visit it.

Oh wow that sunset! Thanks for putting Mystras on my radar.

MAY 23, 2022 – ANCIENT EPIDAURUS AND THE ARGOLID PENINSULA

We drove about 30 minutes from Nafplio to visit Ancient Epidaurus. The theater is such a magnificent site. We climbed to the top of the theater for awesome views. There was a tour group down below in the orchestra. We could hear the tour leader give the group instructions to clap their hands, and we could hear them clapping from the top of the theater. The acoustics really are amazing.

From the theater, we walked to the Sanctuary of Asklepios, dedicated to the god of healing. In its day, Epidaurus was famous across the Mediterranean as a place of miraculous healing. There is a temple and a stadium among other ruins.

From here, we drove down the Argolis Peninsula to the small resort town of Porto Heli. Because we didn’t get any beach time in Naxos, we figured we could do that in Porto Heli. It was about an hour’s drive from Epidaurus. We found a quiet beach; there were a few people swimming. There are sunbeds and a bar and café but it hadn’t opened yet because it was early in the season. Because there was hardly anyone around, we were able to change into our bathing suits in the car! So we had a refreshing dip in the Aegean and relaxed on the sunbeds for awhile.

Then we drove to the fishing village of Ermioni, about a 20-minute drive, for a late lunch/early dinner. We ate at a fish taverna right on the water. Unfortunately, our meal was only mediocre. But they charged us 4,500 euros! Obviously, a mistake. The waitress entered the decimal point in the wrong place. She and the owner tried to fix it but were unable to. The owner gave us his name and phone number to give to our credit card company, if necessary. Of course, we wrote to our credit card company when we returned, and they refunded us all the money except for about $80 which is odd. We will dispute that, too. The owner made the comment that we are not in Mykonos! Maybe they don’t deal with foreign credit cards that often?

When we arrived in Nafplio we decided we needed an ice cream fix since we weren’t satisfied with our meal. We had delicious ice cream at Koustenis, which is recommended by Santorini Dave. And then called it a night.

Is that the Sunday night sunset in Nafplion? I thought it was the most amazing sunset.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yestravel (Post 17373044)

Is that the Sunday night sunset in Nafplion? I thought it was the most amazing sunset.

Yes, that is the Sunday night sunset in Nafplion! The most amazing sunset we saw in Greece; even better than the sunsets we saw on Santorini.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarenWoo (Post 17373051)

Yes, that is the Sunday night sunset in Nafplion! The most amazing sunset we saw in Greece; even better than the sunsets we saw on Santorini.

It was incredible -- we just stood there and couldnt believe it. That will be featured in my TR in a few days.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarenWoo (Post 17373051)

Yes, that is the Sunday night sunset in Nafplion! The most amazing sunset we saw in Greece; even better than the sunsets we saw on Santorini.

Yes, that is a most amazing sunset, thanks for sharing your pictures. We didn’t stay for till sunset at Nafplion, we were leaving early for Athens airport the next morning and wanted to be back home to pack, etc.

We missed Mystras too, we only had three full days and there’s way too much to see in the Peloponnese!

Geetika, where did you stay on the Peloponnese? What did you see while you were there? I agree there is a lot to see on the Peloponnese, as we are learning from Yestravel’s report. I would love to visit the Mani some day. Too many places to see and not enough time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarenWoo (Post 17373116)

We stayed in Kiveri, a little fishing village about 20kms from Nafplio, very calm and peaceful there and we had a house right on the water.

We visited Epidavros, Nemea, Corinth and of course Nafplion. Also did wine and olive oil tasting, which was great fun. You need at least a week, we only had three days. And DH didn’t want to drive more than an hour each way!

Karen, when I'm explaining Nafplio to newcomers, I always say that I've seen sunsets in 25+ islands and at least a dozen Mainland destinations, and IMHO, Nafplio is the Top. I don't ask them to accept this up front -- go to Santorini, etc etc, then visit Nafplio & compare.

Glad also to see you enjoyed Epidaurus. Did you see it in a trip to/from Nafplio? Lately I'm advising people to put it on their itinerary on the day they leave Nafplio en route back to mainland (either Delphi or ATH), in order to avoid back-tracking. A look at the map clarifies... you drive straight EAST from Nafplio t ANcient Epidaurus... and after the site, you drive UP the shoreline to Isthmus. There (if y ou missed it outbound) you can view/photograph the Corinth Canal from the Old Bridge, anad THEN get on the big intercity highway. (on any visiit to Epidaurus, it's an added bonus to keep an eye peeled for the World's Oldest Still-Used Bridge - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkadiko_Bridge

At EPidaurus theatre, one of the treats is to see/hear visitors testing the acoustics from the stage. For some reason, many sing their national anthems. My favorite "performance" was in Late may, from a Greek "jr hi" field trip (friends tell me that Greece is like all our countries -- May is Field Trip Month!). This group was charged by its teachers with performing the scene from Lysistrata, where the Greek women tell the warriors that -- unless they stop the fighting -- they aren't getting any "loving." You should have seen the red faces & giggles... 13 year olds are the same everywhere!

Travelerjan, in my post #91 I explain what we did the day we visited Epidaurus. We did not visit it to or from Nafplio. We visited Epidaurus when we were staying in Nafplio. When we left Epidaurus, we drove down the Argolis Peninsula to Porto Heli and Ermioni.

And we did miss the Corinth Canal on our way to Nafplio!:) But we did see it on our way back to the Athens Airport to return our rental car, and then continued on to Athens.

MAY 24, 2022 – PALAMIDI FORTRESS, RELAXING ON ARVANITA BEACH AND A FABULOUS DINNER

This morning we drove to the top of the Palamidi Fortress in Nafplio. Notice I said we drove there; we did not climb the 999 steps!!! I would have collapsed after a couple hundred steps. 😊

The fortress is on a very high hill with spectacular views of Nafplio and the Argolic Gulf. It was built by the Venetians in the 1700’s. According to my guidebook, it is regarded as a masterpiece of military architecture even though it was successfully stormed in one night by Greek troops in 1822, causing the Turkish garrison within to surrender without a fight. There are remains of bastions. One of the bastions was used as a prison for condemned prisoners.

I wore my sturdy SAS sandals, but I found the walking difficult at times and wished I had worn my sneakers. There is also a rampart walk around the castle but we didn’t do that because the steps down to get there seemed treacherous to me. Maybe not, in reality, but I was getting tired from all the walking and the heat and the sun. I would have felt more sure-footed if I was wearing my sneakers.

We enjoyed the fort and were glad we saw it. I would like to reiterate again to make sure you have good walking shoes/sneakers, a hat, sunscreen, and water when you are visiting ruins.

We drove back to the parking lot by the marina that we have been using since we arrived. I should mention that we usually parked in the smaller lot closer to our hotel. It was usually quite full but there were at least 1 or 2 available parking spaces every time. Once we had to park in the larger lot further away from us.

We then walked to Arvanita Beach where we spent 3 hours lounging on the sunbeds and cooling off in the Aegean. It was so pretty and very relaxing. We intended to have lunch here but because it was early in the season the café and bar was only serving drinks, ice cream and some snacks, like chips, I think. So we had a very unhealthy lunch: beer and ice cream! 😊

We met Yestravel and Gottravel for dinner tonight! They are the first Fodorites we have met! We had so much fun sharing travel stories and talking about our families. We had dinner at Bounos Psarosavouras. That’s the restaurant we ate at the first day we arrived in Nafplio. The food is delicious! Because we were busy talking, I didn’t write down what we had for meals. I know I had fish, maybe sea bass. We shared stuffed peppers and stuffed tomatoes for appetizers. What a wonderful way to end another perfect day in Greece!

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...12db10148.jpeg
Arvanita Beach - people jump into the water from here
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Thatched sunbrellas are so popular!
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...b92c820c8e.jpg
A relaxing day on Arvanita Beach
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The pebble beach
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Perfect place for a lazy day

Indeed! It was such fun to meet up with you. We really enjoyed chatting and getting to know you. Hope we were the 1st of many GTG to come. I'm sorry we skipped seeing that beach.

yestravel and KarenWoo,
I'm so jealous that you got to meet up! And I love both of your trips! I'm hoping to get there by next spring but we'll have to see how life unfolds!

Paule

Wow! Arvanita has become even more "organized" in past couple of years! ... I can remember having to spread a beach towel and lie on the flat concrete platform, not too many years back! All to the good ...

Nice to get up early on a Saturday morning and have a trip report catch up!
Fantastic photos, such a great trip.

Thank you everyone for your comments!
Travelerjan, that's very interesting that Arvanita Beach didn't have the sunbeds, etc. when you were there. I imagine laying on the concrete platform could not have been very comfortable!

That was earlier... on 2 recent visits (2015 & 2019) there were chairs & sunbrellas (tho not as many) and cafe service. Between 2005 - 2012, there were "ups and downs" at Arvanita, AND elsewhere. Nafplio city govt was having quarrels with concessionaires, and so services would come/go... many years the cafe was totally shut, and several years, no WC & changing-booths were unusable. One year, the "peak Park" atop the Peninsula on the point was not maintained because of fight w. cleaning company. I think the increased tourism has inspired better service all around. One thing never seems to improve - tourist information services in town (because that's a GOvt office ... no-show jobs for party hacks).

MAY 25, 2022 – FROM MYCENAE TO ATHENS

After checking out of our hotel, we drove to the ancient site of Mycenae. It’s about a 30-minute drive from Nafplion. Mycenae is located on a hilltop, aren’t they all??? It is the home of legendary Agamemnon. I had just finished reading The Song of Achilles, and knew I had to visit ancient Mycenae.

You enter the citadel of Mycenae through the Lion Gate. The lion motif is believed to be the insignia of the Royal House of Atreus. To the right is Grave Circle A, which is the royal cemetery that contained six grave shafts. Five of these grave shafts were excavated by Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered Mycenae in the 1870’s. He found the gold Death Mask of Agamemnon which is now in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

As you walk uphill, there are remains of buildings; some might have been churches. And the remains of a palace. There is a lot of walking, and it was hot when we were there. No shade. So after walking around, we took refuge in the air-conditioned museum, which is very interesting.

After leaving Mycenae, we drove back to Athens Airport to return our rental car. We took a taxi into Athens to our hotel, Airotel Parthenon. The taxi ride was about 44 euros. Worth it to us. We don’t like using public transportation when we have luggage with us! 😊

So, now this is the sad part of our trip. I am only going to give a brief summary of Athens. When we checked into our hotel room, I got a message from my mom’s caregiver agency to call them ASAP. I knew right away it was bad news. My mom passed away that morning in her home. The caregiver who came to make her breakfast found her. I called my mom’s house to talk to the caregiver, who was crying uncontrollably, and to talk to the police. I am heartbroken. I really expected her to be around a few more years. She would have been 92 this month and was doing quite well, all things considered. Now the dilemma was “do we try to return home early?” We only had a few more days left. The police and funeral director thought we should stay as we would get home only a day or two early. And I know that trying to change our airline reservations and getting a Covid test sooner would be stressful for me. So we decided to fly home as planned on the 29th. But I basically threw our Athens sightseeing plans out the window. And writing this report has been a good distraction for me.

HOTEL:

The Airotel Parthenon is in an excellent location. It’s right around the corner from the Plaka, and about 5-10 minutes from the Acropolis. There are tons of restaurants nearby. Our room was small but clean. My only complaint is that the included breakfast buffet is mediocre.

SIGHTSEEING:

I had purchased tickets for a guided tour of the Acropolis and Parthenon in advance from Athens Walks, so we decided to still do that. I recommend Athens Walks. Their office is about a 5-minute walk from our hotel, so very convenient. There were 10 people on our tour. Our guide, Anna, is very knowledgeable and warm and friendly. The Acropolis and Parthenon are amazing. I love the Erectheion with the Caryatids (reproductions). And it is a beautiful sight at night when illuminated. But it was hot, sunny, and very crowded with large tour groups when we were there. We needed frozen lemonade at the end of the tour.

We also visited the Acropolis Museum, which I highly recommend. The original Caryatids are in this museum. That was a highlight for me. I was disappointed the museum doesn’t rent audioguides. We did see lots of people with tour guides, either private tours or larger tours. This seems to be very common in the museum.

Then we just did a lot of walking around. We explored the Monastiraki neighborhood, the Athens Flea Market and the Athens Central Market. The flea market surprisingly was much less crowded than the Plaka/Acropolis area. It was also shady, and we enjoyed browsing and shopping for our grandchildren. So a good place for a respite from the heat and crowds. The Central Market is fascinating with its fish market and meat market. I had seen a video by Mark Felice from Eurotrotters who leads small tour groups. He highly recommended the Central Market but warned you have to wear closed shoes while in the fish market. And he is right!!! The fish were laid out on ice but of course the ice is melting, and the vendors would also hose down their fish. So the floor is covered in fishy water. No way I would want that on my feet! There are several restaurants in the Central Market, and we had a delicious lunch of fresh fish, mussels saganaki, and calamari at one of the restaurants.

We also walked through Hadrian’s Arch, through a lovely park, and saw the Changing of the Guard at the Parliament building. We walked to everything from our hotel, so it really is in a good location.

RESTAURANTS:

The only two restaurants that I remember are The Old Tavern of Psarras (recommended by Santorinidave) and Geros Tou Moria (recommended by Santorinidave and Mark Felice) both located in the Plaka neighborhood. We had good food at both. No complaints.

We also stopped a lot for ice cream or gelato. It was so hot that we needed our ice cream fix. I found lemon gelato to be very refreshing.

Returning home:

We flew home on a Sunday, and there happened to be a bike marathon that day in Athens. Apparently, they are held about once a month on a Sunday. This means the streets are closed off by 9AM. Our hotel called a taxi for us, which picked us up at 8:15AM even though our flight didn’t leave until 2PM. The Athens Airport was a nightmare. Not sure if it is always like this or because of the bike race. Obviously, there were tons of other tourists who had to leave Athens early to get to the airport. So everybody was there at the same time, regardless of what time their flights departed. The only other way out of Athens was by metro. So try to avoid leaving Athens on bike marathon day!

Thank you to everyone who has been following along. Writing my report and posting photos was a good distraction for me.

Oh, Karen,
I’m so, so sorry to read about your mother! It’s so hard to enjoy a trip after receiving that kind of news. It sounds like you did have as good a trip as possible, though, and it made sense that you didn’t go home 1-2 days earlier.

Your photos are beautiful! I love it all! The beach looks fun and so cool after gallivanting around the ruins. And so many wonderful sites! And you really had amazing weather!

I hope you and your family are doing okay. My condolences for your loss.

Progol, thank you for your condolences. I really appreciate it.

And, yes, we did have awesome weather throughout our entire trip. We had that cool and windy day on Naxos when we couldn't go to the beach but it didn't stop us from doing other things. We really lucked out weather-wise.

Oh no Karen, am so sorry to hear about your mother, my condolences to you and yours. Remember the happy times with your mom and rejoice in them, may she RIP.

Thanks again for your TR and your fabulous pictures. When and where is your next trip, look forward to reading about it. Take care 😊

My condolences to you, dear Karen and keep remembering that there was NO way you could have known... and it must have just been time. You were able to come back in timely fashion and do the needful, as a good daughter. I am glad y ou've done this trip report because as you have said, it has made you look back and relive the moments of delight, without an overlay of regret. The wonderful detail you supplied will enable you to go back to this narrative and recall good memories again and again. I say this from experience. God bless.

Your TR was wonderful -- After hearing some of the highlights when we had dinner together, it was nice to put it all together & see your great photos. So we were in Athens about a month apart--I am gobsmacked by all the crowds when you were there. Another advantage of the Peloponnese is way less crowds everywhere! Sad way to end your trip, so sorry.

I hope our paths cross again somewhere, What's up next for you all?

I'm so sorry for your loss, that does certainly mar the end of the your trip, but I'm glad you've been able to have a positive experience writing about it.

I'm having a similar experience re-living the best parts of my trip while writing my trip report instead of thinking about how everything got thrown out the window when I contracted covid. Like you, I'm lucky in that it happened near the end of the trip.

What are your final thoughts on your itinerary? Is there anything you would change? I'm especially interested in what you thought of Santorini. It's such a "must do" for so many people, but those with experience in Greece often advise skipping it.

Memejs, we loved Santorini and I would advise people to go there at least once in their lifetime. The views are spectacular, and I strongly recommend renting a car for the day and seeing the rest of the island. It may not be the authentic Greek experience, but I think Santorini is well worth seeing for its uniqueness and beauty. With that said, our 2 favorite places are Naxos and Nafplion.

There is nothing I would change in our itinerary. It was perfect for us. I definitely recommend visiting Greece before the weather gets too hot. Santorini and Naxos had comfortable temperatures. But it was definitely getting hotter in Nafplion and Athens as the month wore on. It was already in the low 90’s in Athens, and I think in the Nafplio region, too.